A planned database collating medical information for England’s population is a laudable exercise, with huge potential for research. But people’s right to opt out has been greatly downplayed.
doi: 10.1038/505261a
As cold weather rages, it is easy to forget the difference between weather and climate.
doi: 10.1038/505261b
An endangered species helps scientists to learn why migrating birds fly in a familiar formation.
doi: 10.1038/505262a
Stakes high as European Space Agency waits for Rosetta orbiter to come out of hibernation.
doi: 10.1038/505269a
Australian Antarctic Division says it did not approve research strategy of stricken mission.
doi: 10.1038/505270a
But some biological resource centres face funding issues.
doi: 10.1038/505272a
Single-electron flow measured in bid to overhaul SI base unit.
doi: 10.1038/505273a
Two white dwarfs favoured as precursors of type Ia supernovae.
doi: 10.1038/505274a
科学者たちを悩ませてきた16年間にわたる「地球温暖化の中断」の原因についての手がかりが、徐々に集まりつつある。
doi: 10.1038/505276a
大きな星雲の中心に必ず存在する超大質量ブラックホールの謎が、次第に明らかになりつつある。
doi: 10.1038/505280a
河川による岩盤浸食のデータセットをまとめた結果から、その測定結果は観測の時間スケールに依存しており、段丘などの下刻地形が気候とテクトニクスの変化を忠実に記録しているかどうかが疑わしくなってきた。
doi: 10.1038/505294a
V字型の編隊を作って飛ぶホオアカトキについて空中で計測を行った結果、この鳥は仲間との相対的な位置を調節し、羽ばたきを同調させることで、エネルギーを節約しているという仮説に一致する飛行をしていることが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/505295a
放射スペクトルから「Be」型とされる恒星は中性子星、または中性子星に似た進化した星を伴うことが多いが、ブラックホールを伴うBe型星はこれまで見つかっていなかった。だが、あるブラックホールの正体が、その周囲からの可視光放射によって明かされることになった。
doi: 10.1038/505296a
キノコが地面に輪状に生えてくる菌輪、あるいはフェアリーリング（妖精の輪）と呼ばれる現象に関連した成長促進物質が、真菌の1種から4年前に単離された。そして今回、植物もこの促進物質を産生・代謝していることが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/505298a
転写酵素であるRNAポリメラーゼはDNAの損傷があるとそこで立ち往生してしまい、損傷修復を妨げる。補助因子がこの酵素を前方に押してそこから追い出すのだが、後ろ向きに引っ張ってもおそらく効果は同じらしいことが分かった。
doi: 10.1038/nature12850
Rare copy-number variants (CNVs) conferring risk of schizophrenia or autism affect fecundity of carriers in Iceland, and carriers of these CNVs who do not suffer disease or have not been diagnosed with intellectual disability show phenotypes in brain structure and cognitive abilities between those of non-carrier controls and patients with schizophrenia.
doi: 10.1038/nature12818
Many DNA processes require chromosomes to be held together by a ring-shaped complex called cohesin, but despite the importance of this protein, its interaction with DNA has not been reproduced in vitro; here, using purified yeast proteins, cohesin loading is successfully recapitulated, offering mechanistic insight into how the loader complex mediates topological cohesin binding.
doi: 10.1038/nature12867
UvrD acts in nucleotide excision repair by using its helicase/translocase activity to induce RNA polymerase backtracking, enabling repair enzymes to access DNA lesions.
doi: 10.1038/nature12928
A black hole with mass 3.8 to 6.9 times that of the Sun is found to be orbiting the nearby Be-type star MWC 656; the black hole is encircled by an accretion disk and X-ray quiescent, implying that Be binaries with black-hole companions are difficult to detect in conventional X-ray surveys.
doi: 10.1038/nature12916
Strong, rapid adhesion between two hydrogels and even slices of animal tissue can be achieved at room temperature by using a silica nanoparticle solution as a ‘glue’.
doi: 10.1038/nature12806
A single-flask, catalytic enantioselective conversion of terminal alkenes into a number of chiral products is described: this tandem diboration/cross-coupling reaction works on a broad range of substrates, requires small amounts of commercially available catalysts, and provides products in high yield and high selectivity.
doi: 10.1038/nature12781
Rates of river incision into bedrock are thought to reflect rates of rock uplift as well as the strength of climatic forcing of erosion over time, but here incision rate is shown to depend on the measurement interval.
doi: 10.1038/nature12913
Global carbon budgets reveal that inland waters emit substantial amounts of carbon, which is believed to originate from the terrestrial biosphere; however, here the carbon emitted from the Amazon River system is shown to originate from temporary wetlands in the flooded area itself, such as flooded forests.
doi: 10.1038/nature12797
Position and flap phasing between birds in formation flight indicate aerodynamic benefit.
doi: 10.1038/nature12939
A full mitochondrial genome from a 400,000-year-old Middle Pleistocene hominin from Spain unexpectedly reveals a close relationship to Denisovans, a sister group to the Neanderthals, raising interesting questions about the origins of Neanderthals and Denisovans.
doi: 10.1038/nature12788
In mice, chronic stimulation by repetitive sounds, whisker deflection, motor activity or seizures during a postnatal developmental critical period, leads to permanent reductions in brain microvascular density, an effect that impairs oxygen delivery to neurons but can be prevented by blocking nitric oxide signalling.
doi: 10.1038/nature12821
The airway mucin Muc5b (but not Muc5ac) is required for mucociliary clearance, defence against bacterial infection in the airways and middle ear, and maintenance of immune homeostasis in the lungs; Muc5b deficiency causes accumulation of apoptotic macrophages, impairment of phagocytosis and reduced production of interleukin-23, leading to infection and inflammation.
doi: 10.1038/nature12807
The regularly spaced arrangement of plant organs around the stem known as phyllotaxis depends on auxin-based inhibitory fields; this study identifies another hormone-based inhibitory field downstream of auxin which is generated by movement of the cytokinin signalling inhibitor ARABIDOPSIS HISTIDINE PHOSPHOTRANSFER PROTEIN 6 and regulates the periodicity of organ production.
doi: 10.1038/nature12791
The crystal structures of three forms of Escherichia coli acyl carrier protein engaging LpxD, an acyltransferase in the lipid A biosynthetic pathway, are reported.
doi: 10.1038/nature12679
A highly specific chemical crosslinking method is used to trap a complex between an acyl carrier protein and a fatty acid dehydratase during fatty acid biosynthesis; subsequent X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations techniques enable the detailed study of this complex.
doi: 10.1038/nature12810
Here, the atomic structure of a virally encoded, cell-wall-spanning, DNA-translocating conduit from bacteriophage ΦX174 is described.
doi: 10.1038/nature12816
